Timeless Web Design Trends
Web design is always evolving, with new trends emerging alongside revolutionary technology. Nearly every day, the design landscape advances for web designers, prompting them to adapt their work to meet new expectations. But despite constant change, there are still timeless styles that anchor web design, appealing to various industries and business types.
Top timeless web design trends
User expectations are the foundation of timeless design. As a web designer, understanding these expectations is essential for creating websites that have mass appeal.
Visitors expect a level of familiarity when they come across a new website. If the page is too cluttered and busy, the colors and fonts make content difficult to read, or the navigation is not intuitive, visitors may feel frustrated and end up leaving the site before truly exploring it.
To reach your clients’ audiences and keep them engaged, consider incorporating one (or some) of these enduring design trends:
1. Minimalism
You’ve likely heard the expression, “less is more,” one time or another.
In web design, minimalism is a style that emphasizes essential elements of a website by eliminating anything that is unnecessary. Some of the key characteristics of minimalist website design include:
Simplicity: Minimalist websites are simple and straightforward. They feature few elements and are easy to navigate.
Clarity: Minimalist websites are clear and concise. They direct visitors to take action by communicating your client’s message and reinforcing their call to action (CTA).
White space: Minimalist websites use white space effectively. White space is the empty space around the elements on a website. It creates balance and harmony, and it helps focus the visitor’s attention on the most important elements on the page.
Focus: Minimalist websites focus on content. The design avoids distracting from the content and highlights essential information.
Minimalism is visually appealing, feels harmonious, and, in turn, makes it easier for visitors to take action. It’s rooted in the concept that the more confusing a website, the less time someone will spend on it.
Use this design language to say more with less. Minimalism is great for:
Luxury brands
Landing pages
Technology brands
App websites
Ecommerce brands
Creative brands
Innovative brands
If you are looking for inspiration, check out the Squarespace showcase to see minimalist websites in action.
2. Responsiveness
For today’s consumer, it’s all about choice. Some people choose to browse websites on their mobile devices, while others favor using desktops. Many switch back and forth between device types and screen sizes depending on convenience. With that in mind, screen sizes vary greatly between visitors, making it all the more vital to build websites with responsive design.
Responsive web design is essential in the modern age of technology. With increasing reliance on mobile devices, it's important that your clients’ websites are easy to navigate and interact with on every device.
Squarespace websites are fully responsive right out of the box. The platform offers best-in-class responsive capabilities that simplify your design process.
Here’s what you can expect:
You can create a single website that is responsive on all devices, rather than design websites for every screen size.
Content and images automatically resize to fit different screen widths.
Text resizes to fit each screen.
Visitors can view sites on any device, including smart phones, desktops, and tablets.
Fluid Engine empowers you to rearrange content on mobile devices independent of the desktop layout.
Learn more about creating a seamless responsive experience across all devices.
3. Bold, custom typography
Bold typography is characterized by its large size and heavy weight. Custom typography is a unique font that is specifically used for a brand.
As a web designer, you can use bold, custom typography to your client’s advantage. This web design mainstay works great to:
Make a statement
Create brand personality
Grab attention
Define content hierarchy
Customized, bold typography can bring attention to navigation menus and compelling marketing messages. It’s great for headlines, CTAs, and powerful statements.
Use your design skills to add expressive, bold fonts throughout the website wherever something needs to be emphasized. This can help your client accentuate key messages while helping visitors find what they need.
Bold, custom typography can create a more visually appealing and engaging website.
4. Visible borders
A border is a visual prompt that helps visitors to process the information they’re seeing or highlight messages and sections that are especially relevant. Visible borders create structure and prevent sections from getting jumbled on a page. They maintain a neat, tidy appearance, separating sections so content is straightforward and efficient to consume.
Pro tip: Squarespace section dividers can help you keep your clients’ sites well organized.
5. Colors and gradients
Vibrant colors and strategic gradients are great design aesthetics for building visual hierarchy and calling attention to important information on your client’s website.
Colors are essential for enforcing brand identity. Grab visitors’ attention with bright colors, which can be used to set the tone of a website or highlight certain elements.
When used skillfully, gradients are powerful in web design because they add stylish flair to any website. The gradual transition between colors creates a beautiful, blended effect. They also add visual appeal and depth.
6. Illustrations
Incorporating illustrations is a great way to boost visual interest, understanding, and engagement on your client’s website. Illustrations attract visitors and encourage them to take a closer look.
Both static and animated illustrations are eye-catching. When used appropriately, they can:
Effectively convey complex ideas.
Add an interactive component to engage visitors.
Align with and highlight the client’s branding.
Give the site more personality.
Pro tip: If you’re not comfortable with creating illustrations from scratch, consider outsourcing and hiring a graphic designer or adding stock illustrations.
7. Layers
Layering content helps create a unique look that effectively and creatively tells the story of your client’s brand. There’s virtually no end to the combinations you can come up with by layering images, backgrounds, text, colors, shapes, and other elements.
With Fluid Engine, you can seamlessly layer elements to build effective content layouts.
Pro tip: When adding layers, always check the site’s responsiveness on different devices and check that your design works well on desktop and mobile.
Whether used together or separately, these seven web design trends can help you build websites for clients that they and their visitors will love and enjoy browsing.
Want more?
Check out Squarespace Circle, Squarespace’s program for professional designers. Along with exclusive content, discounts, and other perks, Circle brings professionals together from all across the globe to exchange advice while connecting with new clients and collaborators.
